Dave Bender: Compelling Photography: Friday, August 18, 2006

Friday, August 18

They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions (Audio slideshow)

IDF Artillery Corps soldier wearing "tefillin" (phylacteries) at prayer near northern border.
The thin trail of smoke in the background is from a Katyusha rocket
that landed nearby a short time earlier. (Photo: Dave Bender)

A moving, audio-enhanced slideshow of IDF troops in the field, at prayer, in battle, and their return, and grieving over comrades felled in the war against Hizbullah in Lebanon.

I will update details shortly: The provenance, song title, artist and lyrics, and a proper translation of the prayer for the fallen at the conclusion. Anyone out there who can lend a hand is welcome to contact me.

What happened to 'never again'?

(Above) Bumper sticker on door of Nahariya apartment building damaged in Katyusha rocket strike; shrapnel pockmarks are visible at right. Translation: "Gush Katif & Samaria (northern West Bank) - We Have Love and it Will Win," a slogan of right-wingers, used, and later discarded, who opposed last year's Gaza Strip pullout. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Links to more exclusive audio andvideo coverage of the war. Please click over, look, listen and learn.

Greg Richards at The American Thinker:

As the smoke clears from the battleground of the Israel Hezb’allah War and as we observe the continued supineness of Israel in light of its first strategic defeat, the vocabulary of the situation gradually comes to the fore.

And now I can summarize my own shock at the failure of Israel to take the Hezb’allah challenge seriously – particularly before the war, whose probability of occurrence was near 100%, and for which we all assumed that Israel had planned its response. When the IDF drove up to the border and the wheels fell off the offensive, I can now articulate the question that was in my mind, but I could not quite “reach” – what happened to “never again?”

Israeli grieving over Katyusha damage to his home
(Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times)

And more locally, Brian Blum, writing for Jewish.com, opines:

"And so now, Israelis are asking: At the end of the day, what have we got to show for our effort? "

There is an excellent report and slide show (see photo above) about the results of the war at the New York Times.

Mel Gibson's 'Signs' - The Mohel's Cut ( Video)

(WARNING: Obligatory post about Mel)

Got to watch this sharply-produced video parody about Mel Gibson and the Joooos viralizing around the Internet (and, like "Shake 'n' Bake" - "I helped!')...

(HT: Life of Rubin)

This Just In: U.N. Mulls Cease Fire in War on Terror, Too

From Ynet News:

Following 3 hour meeting in New York, some countries commit to deploying soldiers to initial force in Lebanon, consisting of 3,500 troops. Counties to take part in mission: Italy, Belgium, and Bangladesh. Germany, if it will part, will do so though a patrol force, will not enter territory itself. Force will be deployed by November 4

And this just in:

Now that President George Bush has declared Hezbollah defeated by its acceptance of the terms of a U.N. cease fire in Lebanon, the United States today will press the Security Council to grant it a similar ‘victory’ over al Qaeda.

The U.S. proposal would call for “an end to the violence” between al Qaeda and its enemies around the world, including the U.S., and the creation of a 15-mile buffer zone, manned by U.N. troops, around every nation that al Qaeda chief Usama bin Laden wishes to destroy.

Like this week’s agreement that brought “a just and lasting peace” between Israel and Hezbollah, the ‘War on Terror Cease Fire’ proposal will allow al Qaeda to keep its weapons and supply channels intact, and to escape punishment for its previous acts of aggression and murder.

“This will teach the Islamic terrorists a lesson,” according to an unnamed State Department source who worked through the night crafting a resolution acceptable to both al Qaeda and its enemies. “If you attack us, kidnap our soldiers, blow up our towns and murder our people, you will pay a price. These cease fires will cause significant delays in the radical Muslims’ plan to rule the world. It’s a major hassle for them that sends a clear signal.”

Tony Soprano woulda' been, like, effin' proud.

"Listen to it all, it's a real eye opener. No holds barred,
I ask the tough questions and got the hard answers."

This is a parody, right? Please tell me that the United States Ambassador to the United Nations really did this as a, umm, a goof.

Yeah.

Right.

Dat's, like - f-kin' right, ay, ah?! A f-kin' goof, I'm tellin' ya...

Pamela: So much faith in the Lebanese government I do not understand. A puppet of Syria, who is a puppet of Iran. Iran is Barzini here. You see the Godfather? Okay? So a question about it. Who props up that government? I mean if the Israeli, if the IDF, which is, although when I was in Israel, I gotta tell you, a bunch of baby-faced kids. I know they're always portrayed in the media with Darth Vader helmets and the Israeli war machine. I'm telling you, the cutest kids ever. But if they couldn't contain, and I think there's an element of that that no one really wants to talk about. I wonder how much the US government was surprised that Israel didn't go in, bing-bang-boom, and knock these suckers out. Forget about Israel for a second, even though it's difficult for me, right and wrong, good and evil, and all that. Let's discuss real politics, shall we? It's in America's best interest that Hezbollah be eliminated. I mean this is not just Israel's problem. You know who Hezbollah is. You know where they are. So I think there was an element of surprise. Do I think it's Olmert's weakness? I do. Did I campaign wildly for Bibi? I did. Do I have a vote? I don't. So I think Israel also, you know it's interesting, when I was in Israel, you could see the country was in short of like a shock, like a 9/11 shock. Here they had banked so much on land for peace and peace, even this sh--, even a bad peace, sorry about that, John, is better than a good war, so to speak, although I don't subscribe to that. I understand that the current, modern civilization does, to which they're going to pay dearly, but that's besides the point. Such stock we're putting in the Lebanese government, who is totally kowtowing to Hezbollah. You put every remark by the crying Siniora, I mean, another Godfather moment. You remember Godfather, Frank Sinatra, it was supposed to be Frank Sinatra, he's crying, you're godfather. Same thing happens, somebody slap him. So how could you have so much faith in the Lebanon government? I mean, I want to believe, John. I believe in you. I want to believe.

And that was just her question...

And then there's this gem: